Last Modified: Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 2:35 a.m.

The Lakeland-Winter Haven area count is scheduled for Saturday. Contact Paul Fellers at 863-293-0486 to participate.

The Lake Wales area count is scheduled for Dec. 22. Contact Sharon Allen at shred1909@gmail.com or 863-676-3764 to participate.

The Avon Park Air Force Range count is scheduled for Jan. 3. Contact Britta Countryman at britta.countryman@gmail.com to participate.

The counts are repeated annually within a 15-mile-diameter circle.

The purpose of the counts is to track long-term trends in winter bird populations.

In addition to holding counts in the same location over time, the analysis factors in weather, the number of participants and the amount of time the participants spend in the field to compare results from year to year.

A bonus is the competition to see who can find the most unusual species or the highest number of individual species.

Last year the Lakeland count did well in the latter.

The Lakeland count led the nation for six species and tied for a seventh.

In addition, the Lakeland count was one of only two counts to report a prothonotary warbler. The other was the South Brevard count.

The Avon Park Air Force Range count had top numbers for American bittern (17) and barred owl (46).

No records were set in the Lake Wales count.

The three local counts are among 63 statewide, ranging from Pensacola to the Dry Tortugas.

Many of those counts resulted in national high counts, such as the 1.5 million tree swallows in the Venice-Englewood count, 100,000 American coots on the Clewiston count, 40,000 fish crows on the Econlockhatchee count, 2,720 brown pelicans at the Ponce Inlet count, 1,200 snowy egrets at Coot Bay, 222 burrowing owls in Fort Myers and 36 ruby-throated hummingbirds in Kendall, a Miami suburb.

Embarrassingly, the high count for our state bird, the northern mockingbird, occurred in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge count in Texas, where participants tallied 646.

Some of the unusual species found last year on Florida Christmas bird counts included an Iceland gull at Jacksonville, a Say's phoebe and a yellow-headed blackbird on the Zellwood-Mount Dora count, horned larks in Jackson County, a dicksissel at Long Pine Key and Swainson's hawks at Pensacola and Alafia Banks.

Some once-unheard-of species are now regular but rare species on counts across the state.

For example, the green-tailed towhee is a bird from the western United States that was never documented in Florida until 1990, when it was found in an old citrus grove near Lake Alfred. Four were reported last year in various locations.

National Audubon Society recently issued an advisory that count participants should be on the lookout for the appearance in the Southeast of birds that normally spend the winter farther north.

Some of the species that are appearing in unusual numbers out of their normal winter ranges — these are called irruptions — include red-breasted nuthatches, pine siskins, red and white-winged crossbills and evening grosbeaks.

The data from the counts also is being used in an analysis predicting future ranges of many North American birds as a result of climate change, according to Audubon scientists.

More information on the counts is available at http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count.

TREK TEN TRAILS

The Friends of the Parks Foundation and the Green Horizon Land Trust will host a guided 0.7-mile hike at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Barbara B. Pedersen Wildlife Preserve. The preserve at 6609 Scenic Highway, Dundee, is a 40-acre parcel of upland forest that was donated to the Green Horizon Land Trust by the Jim Pedersen family as a wildlife preserve.

Trek Ten Trails is a program designed to get people off the couch and outside to enjoy the natural wonders Polk County has to offer. The event is free and open to the public.

Instructions and directions for each trail and locating the geocache can be found on the 2013 Trek Ten Trails icon on the Friends website at http://www.friendsoftheparks.net/index.html.

CHRISTMAS TREES

This is just a reminder that there's still time to cut your own Christmas tree in the Arbuckle tract at Lake Wales Ridge State Forest near Frostproof.

The cost is $10 per tree. Bring your own hand saw.

Dates are Dec. 17-21 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Dec. 22 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Call 863-635-7801 for further information.

[ Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com or 863-802-7535. Follow on Twitter @LedgerTom. ]

<p>The longest-running annual bird count in the United States is coming up.</p><p>It's National Audubon Society's 113th Christmas bird count, which will start Saturday and continue through Jan. 5.</p><p>The Lakeland-Winter Haven area count is scheduled for Saturday. Contact Paul Fellers at 863-293-0486 to participate.</p><p>The Lake Wales area count is scheduled for Dec. 22. Contact Sharon Allen at shred1909@gmail.com or 863-676-3764 to participate.</p><p>The Avon Park Air Force Range count is scheduled for Jan. 3. Contact Britta Countryman at britta.countryman@gmail.com to participate.</p><p>The counts are repeated annually within a 15-mile-diameter circle.</p><p>The purpose of the counts is to track long-term trends in winter bird populations.</p><p>In addition to holding counts in the same location over time, the analysis factors in weather, the number of participants and the amount of time the participants spend in the field to compare results from year to year. </p><p>A bonus is the competition to see who can find the most unusual species or the highest number of individual species.</p><p>Last year the Lakeland count did well in the latter.</p><p>The Lakeland count led the nation for six species and tied for a seventh.</p><p>The top species and numbers were: anhinga, 408; cattle egret, 3,401; wood stork, 529; turkey vulture, 4,600; purple gallinule, 42; and limpkin, 98.</p><p>In addition, the Lakeland count was one of only two counts to report a prothonotary warbler. The other was the South Brevard count.</p><p>The Avon Park Air Force Range count had top numbers for American bittern (17) and barred owl (46).</p><p>No records were set in the Lake Wales count.</p><p>The three local counts are among 63 statewide, ranging from Pensacola to the Dry Tortugas.</p><p>Many of those counts resulted in national high counts, such as the 1.5 million tree swallows in the Venice-Englewood count, 100,000 American coots on the Clewiston count, 40,000 fish crows on the Econlockhatchee count, 2,720 brown pelicans at the Ponce Inlet count, 1,200 snowy egrets at Coot Bay, 222 burrowing owls in Fort Myers and 36 ruby-throated hummingbirds in Kendall, a Miami suburb.</p><p>Embarrassingly, the high count for our state bird, the northern mockingbird, occurred in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge count in Texas, where participants tallied 646.</p><p>Lakeland tallied 103 mockingbirds; Lake Wales tallied 158. Statewide, counters tallied 6,264.</p><p>Some of the unusual species found last year on Florida Christmas bird counts included an Iceland gull at Jacksonville, a Say's phoebe and a yellow-headed blackbird on the Zellwood-Mount Dora count, horned larks in Jackson County, a dicksissel at Long Pine Key and Swainson's hawks at Pensacola and Alafia Banks.</p><p>Some once-unheard-of species are now regular but rare species on counts across the state.</p><p>For example, the green-tailed towhee is a bird from the western United States that was never documented in Florida until 1990, when it was found in an old citrus grove near Lake Alfred. Four were reported last year in various locations.</p><p>National Audubon Society recently issued an advisory that count participants should be on the lookout for the appearance in the Southeast of birds that normally spend the winter farther north.</p><p>Some of the species that are appearing in unusual numbers out of their normal winter ranges — these are called irruptions — include red-breasted nuthatches, pine siskins, red and white-winged crossbills and evening grosbeaks.</p><p>The data from the counts also is being used in an analysis predicting future ranges of many North American birds as a result of climate change, according to Audubon scientists.</p><p>More information on the counts is available at http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count.</p><p>TREK TEN TRAILS</p><p>The Friends of the Parks Foundation and the Green Horizon Land Trust will host a guided 0.7-mile hike at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Barbara B. Pedersen Wildlife Preserve. The preserve at 6609 Scenic Highway, Dundee, is a 40-acre parcel of upland forest that was donated to the Green Horizon Land Trust by the Jim Pedersen family as a wildlife preserve. </p><p>Trek Ten Trails is a program designed to get people off the couch and outside to enjoy the natural wonders Polk County has to offer. The event is free and open to the public.</p><p>Instructions and directions for each trail and locating the geocache can be found on the 2013 Trek Ten Trails icon on the Friends website at http://www.friendsoftheparks.net/index.html.</p><p>CHRISTMAS TREES</p><p>This is just a reminder that there's still time to cut your own Christmas tree in the Arbuckle tract at Lake Wales Ridge State Forest near Frostproof.</p><p>The cost is $10 per tree. Bring your own hand saw.</p><p>Dates are Dec. 17-21 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Dec. 22 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.</p><p>Call 863-635-7801 for further information.</p><p>[ Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com or 863-802-7535. Follow on Twitter @LedgerTom. ]</p>